Living in the Light

Tag Archives: Injury

So Xanga, where I’d written for over a decade, is apparently going through some changes. They’re going to require a subscription, which doesn’t jive with my aims for this journal, so I jumped ship. Fortunately, they were nice folks and made it convenient for me to import everything over to here.

Long story short, I’m moving into a new e-space with my random musings. I’m going to be importing the old stuff, so you won’t be brain-dead for long, dear Journal. I’ve even linked this on my Author site to make it easier to find.

While they’re working on the import, I wanted to check in. It’d be over a month since my previous check-in, and I can’t blame that all on the migration. I’ve just been busy with football and life. Mostly football, but I’ve squeezed some life in the cracks.

Dating is still an interesting experience. That is all I have to say about that. When it’s going, it’s not going poorly, but it’s a confusing jungle to navigate even in the best of times.

Football is going well. We jumped out to a 2-0 start before losing in Lucas Oil stadium this last Saturday (in triple OT no less!). I’ve been pouring a lot of effort into the team and, as usual, it has been quite rewarding. I love seeing the kids succeed, and they’ve even let me lead the chapel worship songs. I know, Journal, my singing is awful, but it’s cool to have a positive impact on lives and be able to play my guitar for the Lord. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, but never really pulled the trigger.

I did want to pass along an article today. Apparently faking injury is the news story of the day in the NFL. I suspect it happens at the HS level as well. We run an up-tempo offense, and get some fishy “injuries.” On one hand, it upsets me. I believe the game should be played straight up. If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen (as they say). There is, however, no rule against the practice, and I can see where it would be beneficial. While it may be annoying, I have to say that I’d rather err on the side of caution. It would really stink to have a real injury be ruled “fake” or something. So, for lack of a better opinion, I can’t say the fake injury practice bothers me too much. It just leads me to question the integrity of anyone who would practice such a deception. Do you really need that to win? It says a lot about you as a player, especially at levels where you are not getting paid.

The flip-side to that statement, though, is: Do we really need the tempo to win? Isn’t that equally “cheap?” For us, getting momentum and rhythm is key. Wearing down the defense is just a bonus. It helps us get in “the zone.” I don’t have a good solution, but I would support one that allows offenses to not be unduly disrupted, but protects injuries.

At the pro level, fines for faking seem to be the first step. I also like the idea of increasing the amount of time an injured player must be held out of the contest. This seems to encourage fairness. If a player is, indeed, too injured to stand back up and play the next down… perhaps they should take the rest of the series off, at the very least. This would be in the spirit of protecting folks, and have a much stiffer “penalty” than the one play a player has to currently come out. In my mind, that simple step would really prohibit abuse. If you want to fake it, you can’t come in until the next series… seems a fair trade-off to me.